Qing dynasty, 1770-1860 The body of compressed rectangular form, the pale greenish-white stone with inclusions in shades of apple-green and icy-white.6.2cm high.

Footnotes

Compare a jadeite snuff bottle with similar form from the Mary and George Bloch collection, see Moss, Graham & Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol.1, Jade, Hong Kong, 1995, p.452, no.178.

Jadeite was firstly introduced to China during the late-Ming period as a separate material but it was not until the last quarter of the eighteenth century that it was widely used for carvings, although earlier examples of snuff bottles made from Suzhou may have existed, see ibid., p.473 for the discussion on a probably earlier snuff bottle sold at Christie's New York, 18 October 1993, lot 72.

Jadeite snuff bottles are usually left plain and undecorated, probably due to the hardness of the stone itself, leaving the natural beauty of the material. See also three other jadeite snuff bottles in the Qing court collection, Palace Museum, Beijing in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 47, Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 2003, pp.158-159, pl.241-243.

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